‘The Buddha spoke of nirvana not as annihilation, but as the cessation of the fire of clinging. Likewise, atammayatā is not a negation of life, but the freedom to engage with it without being ensnared.’
Everyday Buddhism
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Buddhism now 
Could you please clarify what “atammayatā” means?
We hope to put a full post on Atammayatā by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu shortly Chris.
Meanwhile: Atammayata is the highest knowledge you can have in this world: As described by the Thai Forest monk Ajahn Buddhadāsa, atammayata is a state beyond even equanimity, where there is no sense of self in relation to objects of awareness. He writes:
‘When one has perfected this practice, there is no “person” who watches “things”. There are no “things” to be watched. There is no “watcher”. There is no “feeling of watching”. All of these have disappeared.’
Yes, I am aware of Bhikkhu Buddhadasa’s explanations about the Buddha’s pure doctrine.
In 1985, before my father died, he told me to make sure to share Bhikkhu Buddhadasa’s book “Toward the Truth”, with my children when they grew up. I followed his advice.
After that I read the books “Me and Mine”.
Recently, I read “Seeing with the Eye of Dhamma”.
Yes, the message Bhikkhu Buddhadasa elaborates in all those books is mainly that there is no existing “person” and no existing “things” anywhere.
I have learned the term “Anathma”, meaning no existing “I, Me, My, Mine, Myself”.
However, I felt that the term, “Atammayatā” is new to me.
I didn’t mean to be disrespectful or question anyone’s expertise, but I was wondering whether it had a spelling mistake.
Please forgive me for inquiring about it, if it is a correct term that I have to learn, if I may have come across only today, for the first time. 🙏🏽
Chris
Your dad knew a thing or two Chris.
It looks like you might mean “anattā” (अनत्ता in Pali), not “Anathma”. If so, here’s the translation: anattā (Pali) → not-self, non-self, or without a self
Here is Bhikkhu Buddhadasa’s explanation.
The word atammayatā is quite difficult to translate. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking how to translate it into Thai, and then into English. So far, the word that we feel is most correct as an English translation is ‘unconcoctability’.
unconcoctability, or the inability to be concocted, where there’s nothing that can concoct the mind. This is how we would like to explain or translate atammayatā. If we take the word atammayatā and break it up: a means ‘not’ or ‘un’; tam means ‘that’; maya means ‘to fabricate, to make, or to concoct’; and then ta means ‘the state.’ So it’s the state of not being concocted by that, meaning not being concocted by anything. Atammayatā is when the mind is free. The essence of atammayatā is the mind is completely free, so there’s nothing that can concoct it, that can condition it. By the way, this word ‘concoct,’ if you’re not used to it, comes from the Latin word ‘to cook.’ It means ‘to cook together,’ and we use the word concoct to mean the way the mind is brewed up, cooked up, conditioned, concocted by things. When the mind is so free that nothing can touch it – nothing can concoct it – we call that state, that realisation, that understanding atammayatā or ‘unconcoctability.’ The essence of which, the mind that is free of, has transcended everything, and so nothing can affect it, nothing can concoct it.
And: Normally the positive value and negative value of things is constantly biting us, clawing us or slapping us, but with atammayatā that just can’t happen. The mind doesn’t get trapped within this positiveness and negativeness, so it doesn’t touch or it doesn’t affect the mind, and then the mind is free, it’s beyond all that biting, clawing, and slapping. This kind of knowledge, this kind of knowledge that prevents the mind from being slapped, is the highest knowledge there is.
Atammayatā is the highest knowledge you can have in this world.
Hopefully we will sort the post out soon.
R